Russia Likely Losing Top Junior Pair, Other Skaters

Vladislav Mirzoev is looking for a new partner, but he may stay with Anastasia Mishina for the rest of the season. Two former top Russian junior skaters will also now skate for Hungary.

A bad week for pairs continues with news of yet another split, though maybe one that actually isn’t happening just yet. This time it’s Anastasia Mishina & Vladislav Mirzoev, the world’s current top junior pairs team. Thankfully, we also have a little good news to counter this story, though it’s not good news for Russian skating. Two skaters who were formerly at the top of their junior scene, and therefore the world’s junior scene, have deserted them.

Mirzoev Openly Looking for New Partner

Anastasia Mishina & Vladislav Mirzoev first broke out early in 2016, winning Russian Junior Nationals, and taking silver at the World Junior Championships. They then took the Junior Grand Prix by storm, winning both their events and the Finale. They came in a respectable seventh at Russian Nationals. Next month, they should be the favorites to win Junior Nationals, and lead the Russian team at Junior Worlds, which they should also be the favorites to win.

But viewers have already been cocerned to see their less than friendly behavior to each other even on camera. It now looks like they were right to be. This week Mirzoev posted his profile to a Russian ice partner searching web site.

Usually, such an act is taken as confirmation of a breakup. But when there’s been no official announcement, and a huge opportunity they would waste by breaking up in the middle of the season, this may not be the end just yet. It’s common enough for teams that have already decided to break up to finish the season first. Usually they don’t make any outright indications of their plans until after their last competition. But it’s not even unknown for them to do so. Maxim Trankov even famously skated with Maria Mukhortova at the 2010 World Championships after announcing he was going to leave her for Tatiana Volosozhar. It might even be she’s simply decided to retire.

It makes sense Mishina & Mirzoev might see the rest of the season through. When he at least is definitely looking for a new partner, and she may be too, a Junior World title is a huge asset to both of them. It may also help them and their new partners with the judges. Making the judges at Junior Worlds aware they’re about to break up is a little risky, but they’ve got enough ability to dominate the current junior field that they could easily win anyway.

Nonetheless, it’s never a happy thing when a promising junior pair breaks up. Especially since one can never be sure either will find a partner as good. This week we saw the fate of one World Junior Champion who lost her partner, and has had to leave Russia to find a new one:

Hungary Debuts Two Teams Half Made Of Russian Skaters

On the same day Mirzoev posted his profile, the Hungarian Federation made two posts to Facebook. Two of their men, longtime pairs veteran Mark Magyar and young ice dancer Adam Lukacs, have new partners. Magyar’s is Daria Beklemishcheva, a former Junior Grand Prix Finalist. Lukacs’ is Anna Yanovskaya, 2015 Junior World Champion. It’s especially good news for Beklemishcheva and Lukacs, who missed last season due to lack of a partner. Since neither team competed at Four Nationals last month, both partnerships are likely fairly new.

It’s common enough for young Russian skaters to team up with foreign skaters and represent their countries. It’s even common for the top ones to do it. Still, it’s a bit more a stir when someone who won Junior Worlds does it. This is especially because the Russian federation doesn’t always allow them to do so. Any skater who represented a country internationally has to sit out of competition a year before representing another. Neither Beklemishcheva nor Yanovskaya competed internationally in 2016, so that’s not a problem. But their federation must also grant them release. The Russian federation has in the past held onto skaters for years. But since the announcement says both skaters are planning to debut at the Bavarian Open next month, it’s likely they have both been released already.

To do this also often means the Russian skaters are taking a step down, and won’t get the results they got their their previous partners. But while he doesn’t have Yanovskaya’s record, Lukacs’ isn’t too shabby. In the 2014-2015 season, he and his partner medaled on the JGP circuit, won two smaller events, and made the top ten at Junior Worlds. Hungary hasn’t had a significant ice dance team since Nora Hoffman & Maxim Zavozin effectively retired in 2011. Yanovskaya & Lukacs could change that. Magyar, however, has a much weaker record. Poor Beklemishcheva, who lacks Yanovskaya’s bigger successes, is more likely to be settling.

Next: Four Pairs Give Us Bad News

What happens after the Bavarian Open is uncertain. Neither Russian lady is likely to get Hungarian citizenship in time for next season’s Olympics, though 2022 is another matter. But if all goes right, they could both have long and respectable careers skating for Hungary. Meanwhile, Russia will turn to their current junior superstars, and hope they last and become the next generation of Russian greats instead.